Morning Call reporters win Keystone Awards

Morning Call File Photo, THE MORNING CALL

Matthew Assad

Matthew Assad (Morning Call File Photo, THE MORNING CALL)

Morning Call wins award for story of Asian visitors to Bethlehem

A two-part series last year about Asian immigrants who spend their days riding buses from New York to Bethlehem as a way to live earned Morning Call reporters Matt Assad and Pamela Lehman a first-place Keystone Press Award from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association on Saturday.

"Riding to Live, the Flushing-Bethlehem Connection" explained how people of little means make money by riding buses from Queens to the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, where they sell the game-playing cards they get with the purchase of a bus ticket. Assad and Lehman won in the news feature category for large newspapers. They also took third place in enterprise reporting in the Keystone Pro Chapter Society of Professional Journalists' contest.

Both awards were given this weekend at the Pennsylvania Press Conference in Gettysburg. The story also earned the reporters the G. Richard Dew Award for public service journalism by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association in November.

In addition, The Morning Call earned three Keystone Award honorable mentions: The staff won for breaking news coverage of alleged cop killer Eric Frein's capture in the Poconos after seven weeks on the loose; Jennifer Sheehan won for investigative reporting for a story about how some were still waiting for checks two months after winning a barbecue contest in Allentown; and Donna Fisher won in the news photo category for a picture that showed Allentown firefighters and paramedics rescuing nine puppies from a house fire.

The annual two-day conference is sponsored by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, Pennsylvania Society of News Editors and the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors in conjunction with the Pennsylvania AP Broadcasters Association, Pennsylvania Women's Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.